The Arts Section

Romeo and Juliet, AUB at Palace Court, Bournemouth

FIONA Ross’s production of Romeo and Juliet for the students at Arts University Bournemouth in their Palace Court Theatre pares the action and the story back to its bones, convincingly underlining the timelessness of Shakespeare’s greatest love story. With daily news full of knife fights and teenage deaths, this is another story of gangs and…

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Mary Poppins, Bristol Hippodrome

THIS new musical production of one of the world’s most popular stories, with seven new numbers by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe happily blending with the Sherman Brothers iconic original score, is big, bold and beautiful. It has lavish sets with costumes to match, by Bob Crowley, that change with the precision of co-director Matthew…

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Hail to thee …

BLITHE Spirit, one of Noel Coward’s most delightful comedies, is the winter choice for Dorchester Drama, at Dorchester Corn Exchange on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd November at 7.30pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2pm. Novelist Charles Condomine wants material for his next book, and rather hopes that a séance with the village’s eccentric medium…

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Never Let Me Go, Bristol Old Vic

KAZUO Ishiguro’s 2005 science fiction novel, one of several descriptions of this thought-provoking work, is not the sort of bedside book you pick up and casually read a few pages before going off to sleep. With its frightening images of the lives of children cloned for the sole reason of providing human organs in order…

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Rebus – A Game Called Malice, touring

YOU would do well to come to this the second stage play version of an Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus novel never having read any of his 25 Rebus novels, or seen the character depicted on TV by John Hannah and/or Ken Stott. If you have done either of these you probably have a very firm…

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Gothic thriller at Arnos Vale

ONE of Bristol’s most atmospheric locations is the setting for a production of one of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic macabre stories. Red Rope Theatre will be performing The Fall of the House of Usher, in the Anglican chapel at Arnos Vale Cemetery, from 14th November to 6th December. It is a dark tale full of…

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Filumena, Bath Theatre Royal

HAVING been taught that it is rude to discuss a lady’s age in public, and not much better a gentleman’s, it is with a little reluctance that I say that the two leads, Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly, who carry the greatest burden in Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall’s expert adaption of Eduardo De Filippo’s…

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A ghostly hit comes to Bath

ONE of the best-loved films of all time has been adapted as a hit musical, which is coming to Bath Theatre Royal from Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd November. Ghost the Musical has been a huge success around the world, capturing all the romance and magic of the film, which starred Demi Moore, the late…

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Grave Concerns – how our ancestors dealt with death

THE winter 2024 study day at Springhead, the environmental arts centre at Fontmell Magna, focuses on the ways our ancient predecessors dealt with death. Grave Concerns, on Sunday 17th November, features three experts, including the archaeologist and television presenter Julian Richards, who lives in North Dorset. Grave Concerns, which runs from 10am to 5pm, follows…

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Urgent plea from Millstream Theatre

MILLSTREAM, the Wimborne-based theatre group for learning disabled and neurodivergent adults, is seeking urgent financial support from individuals, businesses or organisations, to be able to continue running regular drama workshops and creating annual productions. Tam Gilbert, co-director of the group which has its home at the Museum of East Dorset, says: “Although we are starting…

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